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10/12/11

I'm stepping up to answer the the 30/30 challenge issued on Hooping.org. The idea is to hoop for 30 minutes a day for 30 days. The challenge part? It's personal. Participants can interpret it individually. I am challenging myself to core hoop, traditional 'hula hooping', straight up, no tricks.
Here's the deal: when I pick up my hoop, I start jamming, I'm all over the place. Up, down, all around, on and off my body. It's great fun, but the DIFFICULT part is keeping it around my waist.
Here's some reasons why I chose this to be my challenge:
1. Core hooping gets the heart rate up. It's hard work. I start to glisten and shine (A true lady calls it perspiration: not sweat).
2. Core hooping is so much safer for the chandelier hanging in my living room. (hoopers, you know what I mean)
3: It is something I can do at home, in my space, in between all that lovely household-goddess-parenting work.
4: There's more to core hoping than just standing there and gyrating. Once you narrow your focus to a specific area, that focus can be divided and multiplies into many fragments worthy of thorough exploration. For the purposes of my personal challenge, the 'core' is defined as the area of the body below the arms and above the legs.
Here's the breakdown of my daily practice WEEK ONE:

~WEEK 2~
This week I did mini 30 minute hooping 'dance jams', mostly in my living room. Challenging myself the last seven days to intricately explore the core area greatly increased my ability to stay on task, and not do anything tricky. There's not a segment-by-segment breakdown of focus skills this week, just 30 min grooves! That past week of super-focus allowed me to really jam, and get 'free' while waist hooping.
In fact, there were moments when raised heart rate, serotonin and endorphin levels, and freedom thought-streams let me rise above daily thoughts of dishes, laundry, and lunches and open my mind to greater visions! In an almost meditative state, the Muse visited and I was flooded with juicy, creative ideas! What fun!HOOP: 36" black and gold 3/4" has now become my favourite core hooping hoop!MUSIC: DJ Zach (Peace at Last), 60's Funk Mix, Big Blunt Mix, Tchaikovsky, Sounds From Africa Mix, and one day: the outdoor sounds of my daughter playing with her dog, our hens clucking, birds chirping, and the sound of a working dairy farm (moo).

~WEEK 3~
Bring on the 30 minute dance jams! Yup, it was another dancy-pants week here at Island Hula Hoopla headquarters. I am getting into the routine of rising, getting my son off to meet the school bus, and hosting my very own private 30 minute hoopdance party. Keeping it on the core, of course and thoroughly enjoying the freedom within these limits. (Freedom within limits: it's a parenting concept I'm applying to this 30/30 challenge) Imposing the 'core hooping only' rule on myself has added an element of precision to the practice of hoopdanceshimmys or add turns... Being creative, I can use my body movements percussively to accentuate the music. Not to mention engaging specific muscles for a more defined core! HOOP: 36" Black gaffer and gold sparkle!MUSIC: Toots and the Maytals most days, Gotan Project (Lunatico 2006), Delhi to Dublin (Remixed 2008) and Five Alarm Funk (Anything Can Happen)